ISS, up close and personal

[Vega]

This time I went for it and dropped in the 2x barlow then webcam. This gives me approx 600x magnification

Out of a 2 minute+ movie containing 2226 frames, only 2 frames had the whole of it in frame!!! flippin ek. :shock:. So no stacking involved here just the raw frames extracted from the avi file.

Damn shame that the other two solar arrays wern't at the right angle to reflect any light to us.

And if you wondered why it seems to stay bright for longer in the East... this might explain it

Thanks for looking

Matt

[Sam]

:shock: Wow! :shock: they're brilliant - That thing's 350 or so Km away (when it's straight up). Well done!

[Badgerjc]

That is the best ISS image i have seen to date!!

Awesome detail!! tis a shame about t'other 2 sp's not being visible, but you should be proud of that image!! Stunning!!

Badger!!

[Ant]

Flippin heck! :shock:

They are the best images of the ISS I have ever seen!!!

Absolutely stunning!

[Badgerjc]

Flippin heck! :shock:

They are the best images of the ISS I have ever seen!!!

Absolutely stunning!

Ant i could't believe these images either!! Absolutely awesome!!

[LaVey]

saw it go over tonight... Fantastic images!!! now how do u get focus and tracking sorted so quickly.. wudnt mid trying to capture this myself..

[Ant]

I would imagine that focus is pre set - on a star or similar earlier in the evening.

Then align the finder and main scope VERY CLOSELY and follow the ISS (keeping the ISS on the cross hairs) and hoping to god that the ISS is on the chip for at least one frame.

2 frames from 2000.... that's some odds...?

[Vega]

Hi Ant.. you've pretty much sum'd it up. They key is getting that finder accuracy spot on. One problem I did have is 2 minutes of your head being glued to the finder causes it to eventually mist up making it hard to see the crosshairs (kinda essential for this!). It's sooo much harder with the 2x barlow. When I did this last time before Christmas, I didnt use the barlow and got enough frames to do stacking...well about 15. No chance this time.

Can anyone see Shuttle Atlantis in the pics anywhere ? I know it must be there but struggling to see her.

Matt

[jgs001]

Matt WOW!!!!. Superb result.

[supernova]

I saw it too thanks to Keagle

Great pics :shock: :shock: :shock:

Bernie.

[SteelRat]

Absolutely amazing shots Matt 8) Way cool.

Cheers

Matthew(SR)

[Baskii]

Wow. I doff my wooly hat to you! Which of your two scopes were you using? (Could probably work it out from magnification but tired and lazy...!)

[Black Shuck]

Matt,

That's incredible - fascinating! 8)

Thanks

Bill£

[Dave Moulton]

Matt,

Well done superb stuff, how on earth do you manage to track at the speed that thing moves. not only that how do you find it quickly enough to be able to image it.

Dave

[steppenwolf]

Fantastic image! This must be nerve racking to find and track! Superb ....

[saturn5]

Brilliant stuff Matt.

[Wedge]

Fantastic!!

I am sure everyone is so inspired by your pictures.

[legion48]

I was gobsmacked when you first managed to capture the ISS Matt, but to get it WITH a x2 barlow??? :shock: Extraordinary.

[Trevor]

Blimey Matt that’s one cool shot. :shock:

[rawhead]

Incredible :shock:

Great shots..

[The Warthog]

Very cool! You had to work for those, eh?

[centroid]

What a great capture Matt, I think it would be a struggle to better that.

BTW, we (those at the SGL East Anglian meet) watched it pass overhead tonight, while we were all outside observing.

Dave

[Sam Bo]

Wow..really great work Matt!

[trevboyd]

That is absolutely unbelievable, Matt - probably the best ISS I have seen anywhere!

Trev

[Vega]

Thanks for all your kind words, I had another go last night, two panels were reflecting but the high thin cloud made them look a nasty colour which couldn't better the look of Saturday's attempt. Gonna have another go tonight... I cant settle for just one solar panel!

Matt